Queens had another dominant night in the pool, winning every single event on the docket on night three of the 2016 Bluegrass Mountain Conference Championships in Rock Hill, South Carolina. NCAA Records by Patricia Castro Ortega in the 400 IM and Dion Dreesens in the 200 free as well as a three-way tie for second in the men’s 400 IM and two finishes going down to the wire highlighted the night.

In the Women’s 200 Free Relay, Kyrie Dobson, Caroline Arakelian, Shelly Prayson and Shane Knight won the race with a 1:32.35 ahead of Wingate (1:33.48) and Carson Newman (1:33.74). That time narrowly missed the meet record which was 1:32.02 from last year.

Queens continued its domination of the night with Patricia Castro Ortega’s record setting 400 IM. In a race that was expected to come down to the wire, Castro Ortega scorched the back half of the race to claim the win at 4:09.93. Sofia Petrenko of Wingate was second at 4:17.60 and Arakelian was third at 4:24.07.

In the women’s 100 fly, it was a Phelps finish from Hannah Peiffer from Queens. The junior was trailing the whole race to Wingate’s Armony Dumur but had a Phelps v. Cavicesque finish and won the race 53.82 to Dumur’s 53.83. It is Dumur’s second time this weekend getting out-touched at the finish after leading the whole race. Peiffer missed the meet record that was 53.62 by Carson Newman’s Natalie Burnett.

In the women’s 200 free, it was another wire-to-wire finish. It looked like Carson Newman was going to get its first champion of the weekend in Margaret Stansberry. Stansberry lead the race for the first 175, but Queens’ McKenzie Stevens tracked her down and stole the race from her at the touch with a 1:49.09. Stansberry was second at 1:49.10 and Queens’ Josephina Lorda was third at 1:49.58.

There was no out-touch finish in the women’s 100 breast, but Brittney Phelan of Queens won the race at 1:02.50. Her teammate Prayson was second with a 1:02.71 and Wingate’s Jessika Weiss was third at 1:02.87. Phelan missed her meet record that she set in prelims of 1:01.99.

In the final race of the night, Peiffer won her second event with a 54.25 to take out the 100 back. She finished comfortably ahead of Wingate’s Viktoriya Arkhipova who finished at 55.24.

On the men’s side of things, Queens stole the show. Dion Dreesens (20.54), Ben Taylor (20.55), Zach Phelps (19.98) and Ben Mayes (19.81) won the 200 free relay at 1:20.88.

In a race that got Twitter buzzing, the men’s 400 IM featured NCAA record holder and defending champion Nick Arakelian of Queens. He had no problems with the field as he won handily 3:48.25. The talk of the town was what happened eight seconds later. Oystein Fjeldberg of Wingate, Hector Tricas of Queens and Inigo Alarcia of Queens raced to the wall. It was tightening up and all three swimmers touched virtually at the same time. Well, actually they all touched at the same time. There was a three-way tie for second place at 3:56.16. I don’t know if a tie between that many people has happened in a 400 IM race, but I could be wrong. Ossian Arvidsson of Wingate wasn’t too far behind either with a 3:56.44 for fifth place. Not very often do you see a race that long have that many ties.

The men’s 100 fly had no ties, but was still a close race to the finish. It ended up being Enzo Pazos of Queens who won the race at 49.01. Denis Schulz of Limestone was second at 49.08 and Niklas Martin of Wingate was third at 49.25.

In the men’s 200 free, it was a dominating performance by Dion Dreesens of Queens. The sophomore took the race out in a 44.81 and was way under NCAA record pace. He faded a little bit in the last 100 but was able to snag the record by .01 seconds at 1:34.20. Jerome Heidrich of Wingate was second at 1:36.94 and Lennart Queiss of Wingate was third at 1:37.00.

In the men’s 100 breast, Queens’ Rost Fedyna won with a 53.96. He had some pressure from teammate Ben Mayes but he could not catch him as he finished second with a 54.19. Tobias Feigl of Limestone was third at 54.30.

In the final race of the night, Zach Phelps picked up a final win for Queens in the men’s 100 back with a 47.66. He won the race pretty handily as he missed his meet record from last night that was 47.31. Emile Kuyl finished second for Johns Hopkins at 49.04 and Jake Minasi of Limestone was third at 49.60.

Barring a disaster, Queens will win the meet tomorrow on both sides. They hold a sizable lead on the rest of the teams. Limestone had a heck of a day on the men’s side as they pulled ahead of Carson Newman into third. Can they hold on? Will they catch Wingate in second?

Author: Andy Ross

Andy Ross graduated Cum Laude from Southern Illinois University where he studied Radio and Television and Journalism. He is a native of West Lafayette, Indiana and has been on board with Swimming World since January 2015.